BlackRock $BLK Position Reduced by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Key Points

• Empirical Financial Services LLC reduced its stake in BlackRock by 19.8% during the second quarter, holding 6,421 shares valued at approximately $6.7 million after selling 1,590 shares.
• BlackRock's stock has seen a range of analyst upgrades, with JPMorgan and Jefferies raising their price targets significantly, reflecting a generally positive outlook on the company's performance.
• The company reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $12.05 for the recent quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations and showing a year-over-year revenue increase of 12.9%.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management cut its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 19.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,421 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 1,590 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in BlackRock were worth $6,737,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Garde Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 27 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 76.5% in the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 30 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. 80.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BlackRock news, Director Fabrizio Freda sold 4,434 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,122.81, for a total transaction of $4,978,539.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,506 shares in the company, valued at $3,936,571.86. This represents a 55.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 17,142 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,120.50, for a total value of $19,207,611.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 61,369 shares of the company's stock, valued at $68,763,964.50. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,494 shares of company stock valued at $74,694,573. 1.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,093.00 to $1,242.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on BlackRock from $959.00 to $1,210.00 in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,247.00 to $1,224.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $1,115.00 price objective on shares of BlackRock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on BlackRock from $1,170.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,194.86.

BlackRock Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of BLK stock opened at $1,160.23 on Friday. BlackRock has a 52-week low of $773.74 and a 52-week high of $1,183.50. The stock has a market cap of $179.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $1,128.92 and a 200-day moving average of $1,026.28.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The asset manager reported $12.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $10.41 by $1.64. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.68% and a return on equity of 15.53%. The company had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $10.36 EPS. The business's revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $5.21 per share. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.39%.

BlackRock Company Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks.

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